Inhimanity of former Proprietor. 303 



M. Adam had once worked so unmercifully on the island, very 

 many perished here owing to the severity of their treatment, 

 but no one knows where their bodies lie ; — very possibly their 

 bones lie scattered about the island, like the remains of the 

 much persecuted petrel {prion tui'ton), which the predatory 

 gull throws carelessly from him after he has stripped off the 

 flesh, and gorged himself on the most delicate morsels. Only 

 two graves are known to the present residents, — one is the 

 resting-place of an Englishwoman, who died on board a mer- 

 chant-ship which happened to be near the island, and whose 

 grave was dug in the earth on the north side of the crater- 

 basin ; the second covers the body of a ship captain, who was 

 accidentally drowned in the basin by the upsetting of a small 

 boatj^as he was approaching the bar in heavy weather. His 

 grave is at a short distance behind the huts of the colonists, 

 and bears traces to this day of the solemn feelings with which 

 it was erected ; an enclosure of large stones neatly arranged, 

 make the site and its object at once recognisable. 



Shipwrecks are unheard of at St. Paul ; at least, none such 

 have been known to occur since it has been occupied by man. 

 On the other hand, they are of more frequent occurrence at the 

 sister island, as has very lately been evidenced by the cata- 

 strophe of the Mei'idian. However, the elements are not 

 always to blame for such lamentable occurrences. Ships 

 are sometimes dashed to pieces on the shores of Amsterdam in 

 the finest weather, so that one is almost induced to believe that 

 these misfortunes are occasionally resorted to intentionally, so 



